A review by keepcalmblogon
The Shadows Between Us by Tricia Levenseller

adventurous fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

When I opened The Shadows Between Us and saw it’s dedicated as a Slytherin Romance, I was immediately intrigued! Right off the bat, the dedication helped me to understand Alessandra’s attitude, goals, and drive. While I wouldn’t describe her as a relatable, or even necessarily likable, character, she was quite intriguing. I enjoyed watching her discover love and companionship while not compromising on her principles or ambition.

While I felt some aspects of this plot confused me in that they seemed to require a bit of editing—for instance, a woman who claims to want to become the ruler of her empire, and therefore kill the current ruler, didn’t seem to know much about the monarchy (her king’s name, the fact his elder brother died, or the last king’s name, who only died a year ago). While some of these things might have been believable if the FMC had been a peasant, Allessandra is part of the nobility class and it seems as if none of the above was kept secret by the monarchy, so it was kind of odd. Especially in regards to the Shadow King’s name: when Alessandra first learns it, she acts as if she’s been let in on a secret, but following that it turns out that all of the nobility know his name, so that was a silly kind of continuity error. I also was very confused about Kallias’ shadow abilities being essentially an open secret. While he says no one really knows how it works, it would appear that enough people know how it works to leak the information to his enemies, at which point I would assume his enemies would widely share and it would cease to be a secret—which kind of happens and yet…doesn’t. In the end, I will give this 3 stars for having a strong romance plot with a badass FMC!